October 2010
Cubs Manager Search Down to Three
With news coming out this morning that Eric Wedge being named the manager of the Seattle Mariners, the Chicago Cubs have one less option to fill their void.
Honestly, I never really felt that he was ever a real option to be the new manager of the Cubs. In my mind, there have always been only three true options to take over the job. On the list of people who I feel will take the helm are Mike Quade, Ryne Sandberg and Joe Girardi. At the moment, two of the three are available and looking for managerial work, while the other is currently leading the New York Yankees to what could possibly be their 28 World Series title. In some peoples minds, that could put a potential kink in any plans of hiring him. Not in mine though.
I fully believe that the plan to interview him is clear. Earlier in the off season, General Manager said that he wanted to have a new Manager named by October 15, which was yesterday and obviously didn’t happen. The owner of the Cubs though, Tom Ricketts, quickly followed up Hendry’s October 15 suggestion with a date of his own. The date he suggested was November 15, which would give Hendry and Ricketts a chance to interview a manager who was unavailable because he was still working. Someone like Girardi. Some fans would question though, as to why Girardi would even consider leaving a job as prized as the Yankees for the Cubs. In my mind, and yes I have nothing to go off of other than my own thoughts, Girardi will be the new Manager of the Chicago Cubs.
Before I start in on why I think Girardi will be the new manager, we need to make clear his contract situation. He and the Yankees have a mutual option for 2011. What this means, and sorry if it sounds as though I am talking down to you, is both sides must want to be back in order for this to kick in. One would have to assume that if the Yankees win the World Series, their ownership will want him back and exercise their option, but if Girardi does not want to come back, he will not be there. Same with if the Yankees do not win the World Series and Girardi wants to come back. If the Yankees don’t want him, he will not be.
Back to why I fully believe Girardi will be the new manager. Ricketts is not a stupid man, you don’t become a billionaire by making stupid decisions. He would not be waiting as long as he says he is willing to, if he did not have a good hunch that he will get what he wants. But why would Girardi be so willing to leave the Yankees for the Cubs job?
Go back four years ago when both the Cubs and Yankee jobs were open. Girardi openly stated that the only two jobs he would covet the most were the Cubs and the Yankees. We all know how that ended, the Cubs signed Lou Piniella and Girardi headed to the Yankees. He now had one of the two jobs he wanted about all others, and he was very successful. In his third year with the Yankees, he won the World Series and still had a year left on his deal. He proved that he could lead a team, no matter how loaded with talent, to a championship. This year, he looks to be leading another strong favorite to yet another title. After winning back to back titles, Girardi would have nothing left to prove in New York. He could very well be up for another challenge. A much harder challenge of leading the Cubs to their first World Series in 65 years, and their first championship in 102. A daunting task no matter who you are.
I know that this is just speculation, but the thinking surrounding the situation makes sense the more you think about things. This is no sure thing, even though one report has Girardi’s agent saying Girardi would take the Cubs job. One thing that may stop Girardi from taking the job, is already being saddled with a hitting coach and a pitching coach. He may not like the idea that his coaches are already chosen for him. He may demand they get fired so he can bring in his own guys. That may very well be what keeps Girardi from being the Cubs new manager.
According to one report earlier in the week, Will Carroll started a rumor where Quade would be named the Manager with Sandberg being his bench coach. While this idea would have been fine with several people, according to Mike Mulligan and Brian Hanley on 670 The Score, a friend of Sandberg basically said that if Sandberg was not named the manager, then he wouldn’t be with the Cubs. Now, this is just third or fourth hand news, much like the game of telephone, so you don’t know how reliable the friend of Sandberg is. However, Carroll retracted his thoughts of what might be the following day.
This would be a bad idea, because the moment the Cubs started a long slump the fans would start demanding Sandberg take over. You would have a split fan base and a split club house. That is no way to win. You have to have a manager who the fans and players know are the boss. If Girardi was named manager with Sandberg as the bench coach, that would be different. There would be no question that Girardi was the man in charge.
Quade though, should be considered a very serious candidate. He took over a team, granted when there was no pressure, and put together a fantastic record. He took a team that apparently had no idea how to win, and actually made them win. He has the backing of several players who have already given their support to him, and said they would fully support him as the manager going into 2011. He may very well be the right man for the job.
Taking out the record he put up as manager of the Cubs, the greatest qualification he might have is the current roster. He knows the players who will be on the team better than either Girardi or Sandberg. While Sandberg may know the kids better, Quade knows the veterans and already has their support. one thing you need if you are going to succeed as a manager, is the respect and support of your players. That is likely one thing Piniella lost as the season went on last year. Despite the complete lack of managerial experience, only a month and a half, that alone might very well make him the favorite for the job.
One reason he might also be the man to take over, is the Cubs can have more power over him than they would Girardi. They can tell him that if he wants the job, he must keep both Larry Rothschild and Rudy Jaramillo as his pitching coach and hitting coach. You can easily force that on someone who is looking for their first real job. Much more than someone who has already cut his teeth in the majors.
The final candidate for the Cub job is Sandberg. He is the obvious fan favorite for a majority of Cub fans, though not all of them. From the very beginning, he was the man most fans wanted to succeed Piniella and lead the Cubs into the future. He fits each and every qualification that Ricketts said he wanted in the next Cubs manager, and would seem to be the favorite. If the Cubs are going to go on the cheap and bring in a bunch of rookies, than I would agree that Sandberg would be the man to hire, mainly because he knows the kids that will be up here and what they can do. He knows exactly what he can expect out of them, and how hard to push them. Much like Quade has the support of the veterans on the team, the kids in the minors are all pulling for Sandberg, likely out of being familiar with him and the feeling that they have a better chance to make the club if he is the manager. Who knows for sure though.
Like Quade, the Cubs can also have control over him and tell him who his coaches are going to be if he wants the job. Both Rothschild and Jaramillo have contracts and are not likely to be fired. Sandberg would have to keep them on board if he wants the job. That wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world though, as he could use all the help he can get with the current roster. They know the players better than he does, and could help him along the way. That is a much better scenario than a rookie manager starting with a team where he barely knows any of the players, with a pitching coach who needs to learn the pitchers and a hitting coach who needs to learn the hitters.
Quade and Sandberg, while being stuck with both Jaramillo and Rothschild would still be able to name their own bench coach.
Out of the three, I still have to believe that Girardi will be the man to take over. While Ricketts and Girardi can not officially talk until the end of the season, we all know that conversations take place through back channels. A “friend” of Girardi’s talks to a “business partner” of Ricketts or something like that. The rule that blocks conversations is the easiest rule to get around, because of all the back channels. I just can not believe that Ricketts would risk ruining relationships with the other two candidates just to talk to Girardi if he did not have something to give him the idea that he would in fact take the job. By giving the impression that you don’t want to hire anyone until you talk to Girardi, you are basically saying that he is your top choice for the job. How would you feel if you were Quade or Sandberg then? Yeah, we want you as our manager, but only because he turned us down. You were not our first choice.
One reason they are waiting, is because they can. Apparently, despite reports, no one is banging on Sandberg’s door to be their manager. Reports were that he was in the running for the Toronto Blue Jays, but how real are those reports? He doesn’t have the power to tell them to wait on his answer. Being a rookie manager, if he were to tell them to wait, they would laugh him off and go in another direction. Plus, he would be stupid to turn down a chance at a job because he wants another one.
No matter what happens this next month, nothing is certain. All we know, is there will be a new manager. Who that is, no one can be certain.
Chicago Cubs Regular Season Awards
With the regular season in baseball now concluded, baseball writers will start doing their research, and vote for who they feel should win the various awards. Sadly, but realistically, there will be no member of the Chicago Cub family that will win any of these awards. I know what you are thinking, “What about Castro?” Don’t get ahead of me, that is lined up for tomorrow. Today, I will limit the selections to the Cubs, and declare the winners in my books. From the rookie of the year to Cy Young. This should open the flood gates for numerous discussions and debates.
The first award to be handed out is the rookie of the year. There are only two candidates to speak of for this award, Tyler Colvin and Starlin Castro. When camp broke, and Colvin was named to the 25 man roster, a percentage of fans celebrated his arrival. They had been waiting for him to finally get his chance to perform at the major league level, and thought that he could be a spark that could light a fire for our boys in blue. With the fans all holding out hope, Colvin did not let them down; at least not at first. In his first two months, Colvin hit .333 and was getting on base at a .367 percentage while slugging .667. Cub fans were falling in love with him quickly; but that is where the fun and excitement for him ended. He started falling off at a rapid pace and ended the season on a low note and became overshadowed by another rookie to join the team this year, Starlin Castro.
When Castro finally got the call to join the big league club at the beginning on May, fans celebrated the arrival of the most anticipate player to join the Cubs since Mark Prior. Like Colvin, Castro did not waste time to make an impact, breaking a record in his very first game. He became the first rookie to drive in six RBI in his first ever game. He soared through the month of May, putting up a .310 batting average with a .355 OBP and a .414 slugging percentage. Fans immediately started to fall in love with him. While he made some spectacular plays in the field, he also made a massive amount of rookie mistakes which include not tagging out base runners on stolen base attempts. In June, Castro hit a wall, with all of his statistics falling to embarrassing levels, even for a rookie. However, he took that in stride and took off again. By the end of the year, he was a serious contender for the batting title in the National League. He has little power, and his glove needs a lot of work, but he will be a fantastic player when he finally settles in.
Rookie of the Year: Starlin Castro
The Cy Young award, I have to limit this to players who were on the Cubs the entire year. This would count out both Carlos Zambrano and Ted Lilly. While both would get consideration if there were a mass number of voters, I would not vote for either. The first man I would look at would be Ryan Dempster. While Zambrano led the three remaining opening day starters in ERA, Dempster led the staff in innings pitched, strike outs, and wins. He was by far the best starting pitcher on the staff, and put together long strings of strong quality starts to keep the Cubs in most of the games that he pitched.
Then there is Carlos Marmol. While he gave us all heart attacks every time he came out to the mound, you can not ignore his 38 saves in 43 chances, or his 138 strike outs which is good for 15.99 strikeouts per nine innings. When you consider the opposing batters only hit .147 against him, you knew the only way they got on base was if Marmol let them, which he did at a .300 clip with all his walks and hit batters. His .255 ERA also makes him a very strong contender for the Cy Young award on the Cubs.
Cy Young: Ryan Dempster
Hey, relief pitchers have their own awards. Speaking of which, there can be no debate.
Relief Pitcher of the year: Carlos Marmol
The comeback player of the year in my books falls to one man and one man only. Geovany Soto is the only one to even be considered. After winning the Rookie of the Year award in the MLB in 2008, he fell on hard times in 2009 and looked like he was a one year wonder, which is a familiar tale for many men who have won the award. He gained weight and seemingly forgot how to even play the game. Enter the 2010 season, and you would have seen a new Soto. He dropped weight and appeared to rededicate himself to his job. Raising his batting average by .068, he became an offensive threat once again. Even though he spent most of the year hitting at the bottom of the order, which limited his RBI chances, he made his presence known. His OBP was also over .400 for a good majority of the season, which is always great to see from the man who is hitting in front of the pitcher. If you have a better option, feel free to let me know.
Come Back Player of the Year: Geovany Soto
Much like with the comeback player of the year, there is only one choice for MVP of the Cubs. In his first year with the ball club, Marlon Byrd never disappointed. He flew around the field making amazing catch after amazing catch. But that isn’t where he won the award for me, which just helped leave the competition in the dust, which there wasn’t much of. Coming from the Texas Rangers, fans questioned his offense and if his numbers would translate to a new field and a new league. Byrd put those fears to rest as he hit over .300 for most of the year, ending things just under the .300 mark. While exhibition games do not play a role in this award, his game winning defensive play to help the National League win for the first time in over ad decade doesn’t hurt his credentials. He was the best player on the Cubs from wire to wire. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing what he can do for the Cubs next year.
MVP: Marlon Byrd
Manager of the Year, is one I won’t spend time on. Lou Piniella was never there and did little to help the Cubs win, though he did not cost us the season either. Read the blog I posted yesterday on my thoughts on how he contributed to the year. Quade, by default wins this award because he won games, and had a winning record. Does that mean he is a better manager? For this year, you can definitely say that. Did his wins come in a pressure free environment? Of course that matters in the long run, but should that effect the decision? Not really, there has to be a winner, and he was the last man standing. Announcing who wins what is normally a one man race is a waste of time though. However, take your hats off to Quade who helped the Cubs end on a high note.
These are my choices for the Cubs Year end awards. Do you agree or disagree? Who would you have win?
The Autopsy of the 2010 Season
Throughout the final weekend of the 2010 baseball season, there have already been a number of season in reviews for your Chicago Cubs. Each trying to figure out what went wrong, when, why and where. Most fans have already made up their minds as to who is to blame for this lost season which ended in embarrassment. Usually, the first person to be called out is General Manager Jim Hendry, who is quickly followed by former Manager Lou Piniella. Others will blame the veterans who failed to live up to the expectations, and never quite got going. Then, there is new Cubs owner Tom Ricketts who a number of Cub fans already have turned on. According to them, the new owner is the same as the old owner.
After reading a few of the other “season in review” blogs by people who get paid and have little to no emotional investment, I was reminded of something that took place way back in Spring Training. While each of the previous men I mentioned played at least a little bit of a role in the demise of the 2010 Cubs season, none of them actually got the ball rolling down hill. That distinction belongs to none other than Cubs President Crayne Kenny.
Why do I blame Kenny for starting the demise of the Cubs? What has been the Cubs biggest complaint of Piniella all season? Fans piled on him for most of the season, saying that he has the appearance of not caring, and never did anything to show he still had the fire to do the job. If you remember (then you have a better long term memory than I do) Piniella mentioned during Spring Training that he was feeling great, and would seriously consider coming back to manage the Cubs beyond 2010, which was Piniella’s final year on the contract. In response to this, our dear President replied by saying there would be a very interesting conversation if he really wanted to come back.
Right there, is where the S.S. Cubbie took the first sign of damage. Now, the players and the fans knew that Piniella was a sitting duck waiting to be picked off. There was no interest in upper Cubs management in bringing Piniella back, and now he knew it.
Now, I will fully agree that there have been several times throughout the year that Piniella has looked disinterested in what was going on the field. He pushed me over the edge several times with his post game comments of “What am I supposed to do” and “I’m out of ideas”. When a manager says things like that, you know the time has come to cut the cord. But I can’t really blame him for feeling the way he did given the situation. When you are basically told you are not wanted anymore, how can you be expected to give your whole heart into a task? He was given the indication that no matter how well he did, he was gone at the end of the season. In my honest opinion, when Kenny spoke those words, Piniella should have either quit or been fired. However, that is not what happened, and the season started going down hill.
As far as Hendry and Ricketts, they share the same boat, and I will get into this more on another day, but as far as where everything went wrong, they have to be a focal point. Hendry did very little to improve a club which needed a lot of work. The biggest folly he made, was ignoring the bullpen. Trusting what many people deem to be the most important part of any team to a group of rookies is asking for trouble. He should have known better than to do that. Your pitching staff is only as your bullpen. A blown lead late in the game can demoralize a pitching staff.
Now, was that due to not finding anyone worth while, or a lack of money? If you believe that there was a lack of money, that falls in the lap of Ricketts, who was under some financial restraints. If you have followed my blog for a while, you would have heard about his being financially limited by the bankruptcy courts which limited how much he was able to spend on the team for at least this season, though he may very well be limited next as well. So, with this being the case, I am not entirely how much blame could be pinned on Ricketts. However, you can pin the blame on Hendry for not spending what funds he had for this year more wisely.
That sums up how the season started to unravel before the season actually began. Teams could over come such obstacles if they play their cards right and worked through these off the field problems. To do that, you must have a team which is mentally tough enough to over come these problems. As the season went on, everyone should have seen that apparently they were not close to being able to handle those problems.
The first in season mistake which helped send the Cubs into the tenth level of hell was the demotion of Carlos Zambrano to the bullpen. While I fully understood the reasoning behind the initial demotion to the bullpen, I could not agree with the move. They needed someone they could depend on to get the ball to closer Carlos Marmol, and Zambrano was the starter who would give that security blanket to Piniella that he was missing when Marmol was named the closer. Weakening your starting staff to do so, was the worst move of the season. That one move lit a fuse which would eventually end with Zambrano exploding in an in house fight with Derrek Lee in the Cubs dugout. That led to a suspension, anger management and another demotion to the bullpen.
While Zambrano has been pitching out of this world since he returned to the rotation, missing his starting games hurt the Cubs in the long run. They needed him out there every fifth day toeing the rubber and keeping the Cubs in the games. Losing around 20 starts from him cost the Cubs numerous games which would have kept the Cubs closer to contention than the doormat of the National League Central.
That was only one of the storylines from 2010 that helped destroy the Cubs season. While having a lame duck manager played a big part in the Cube demise, the big ticket players not playing up to expectations helped finish the job. When you have the middle of the order stumbling and bumbling their way around the base paths and not even hitting their weight for half the season. Lee and Aramis Ramirez played like total garbage for the first half of the year, and never came up with a big hit when we needed one. Winning baseball games is hard to do if you cant score runs, and you leave men on base.
Many people blame their lack of execution on Piniella, saying he was not motivating them properly to go out and do their jobs. While I already pointed out why I believe Piniella seemed disinterested for most of the year, I will not blame him for the failures of either Lee or Ramirez. They are both major league players who made over $10 Million dollars in 2010. That price tag alone should be motivation enough to work on your trade and do your job to the best of your ability. They should not need someone to give them a pep talk to make sure they are in the right frame of mind to play every day. Their failures fall squarely on them, and no one else. They routinely came up in big moments with men in scoring position and did nothing to help the Cubs win until the pressure was off, and even then they did little to help the Cubs win games.
Let’s face facts, despite who you want to blame, these two situations are the main in season factors which helped kill the Cubs in 2010. Add in the preseason drama of Piniella thinking about coming back and Kenny more or less saying no, and you have all the ingredients you need for a dismal season.
The Ex-Cub Factor in the 2010 Playoffs
The regular season for the 2010 campaign is now officially over, but that does not mean that your baseball world has to stop. While we, as fans of the Chicago Cubs, have no real rooting interest in who wins the World Series, we do have the choice of which former Cub do you want to see win a ring, and who you don’t. There are five of the eight teams which have former members of the Cubs on their rosters, who have a chance to be on the active roster once the playoffs begin.
With the Texas Rangers, you have Rich Harden. The Yankees have two former Cubs, Joe Girardi and Kerry Wood. In the National League, the Atlanta Braves have Derrek Lee, while the San Francisco Giants have Mike Fontenot. The final team, the Cincinnati Reds have Dusty Baker and Jim Edmonds. Nine former Cubs all have the chance to win a ring, with someone other than our home town heroes. Who are you rooting for, and who are you rooting against?
Obviously, we will have our disagreements on who we want to win and who we don’t. That is why I am here today, to clear the air with my thoughts on which of these former Cubs I want to see succeed, and who I want to fall flat on their faces. Of course, there will be explanations for each. Let’s see if you agree or disagree with my thought process.
The first team I want to see knocked out of the playoffs, are the Reds. I know the old mantra is root for your division before all other teams, but I have a hatred that can not be matched by any other former Cub than for Baker and Edmonds. While Baker has indeed been one of, if not the, best manager the Cubs have ever had, I have a very long memory. Getting the Cubs within five outs of their first World Series in 58 years is something special which I will never forget. What I can also not forget, is how he cost us that game. Sure, people blame Steve Bartman (which I do not), or Moises Alou, Alex Gonzalez and Mark Prior, but in my books they just played supporting roles to Baker. All he did was sit on his butt while the team fell apart around him.
As far as Edmonds goes, now that he is a former Cub, I can go back to hating him. I hated him with a passion when he was a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, but fell in love with him when he was a Cub. Just saying that makes me feel dirty; however, watching him play the game the way you are supposed to play, one would have a hard time hating someone like that. That being said, I do hate him once again. He wont be known as a former Cub, but a former Cardinal.
I take back my original thoughts though, I don’t want to see them be the first team knocked out. I want to see them be five outs away, and to have Baker blow things once again.
As much as I love Lee, now that he is a former Cub, I can go back to disliking him. While he is one hell of a baseball player, as well as a person, much like with Baker, I can not forgive him for 2003. He helped eliminate the Cubs in that ugly game six, and if memory serves, he had the game winning RBI. Since he helped beat the Cubs to get his first ring, I am not so sure that I want to see him win a second now that he is no longer with the Cubs. Especially since he is one of the reasons the Cubs failed to go anywhere this year. I loved what he brought us his first few years with the team, but I can not root for the man who helped deny us our dream, now that he is no longer with us.
With the Rangers, I couldn’t really care less about them and Rich Harden. I know he is a favorite of at least one of my followers, but he was not with the Cubs nearly long enough for me to have any kind of bond with. I am glad he gets another shot, but don’t care if he wins a ring or not. Honestly, I don’t really feel he is much worth my time or attention. He did good things for us in his short Cubs career, but not enough to make me root for him.
The Giants and Fontenot might get my vote, because while he is not a great ballplayer, Fontenot is someone I liked. Mainly because there is finally proof someone my size can play baseball in the majors. While he was better for us in 2008 than he was in 2009, he never really stepped up to be the player we all hoped he would be when they traded Mark DeRosa (no, I am not saying we should have kept DeRosa). The Giants, based on my rooting for former Cubs would get my vote in the National League, if not to win the whole thing.
The Yankees, or the Evil Empire, I would not mind seeing win. Wood will always have a special place in Cub fans hearts. Out of all the former Cubs, I think I would want him to win a ring first. The only problem with this, is that would also mean Girardi would win one as well. I have nothing against Girardi, but if he wins a World Series, or maybe even if he gets there, he will likely want to stay in New York one more year, which would take him out of the running for the Cubs managerial job. Out of all the candidates for the Cubs manager, I think I want him to get the job. Nothing against Ryne Sandberg, I just think he would do a better job.
Now, if I were to take the mindset of some fans of the Cubs, which is to say “if you didn’t win one for us, I don’t want you to win at all” then I would go for the Minnesota Twins beating the Philadelphia Phillies. Why the Twins over the Phillies? Well, that would stick things to the Chicago White Sox, and I don’t want to see the Phillies win another title. I have never been a fan of any team in Philly, and don’t plan on liking one any time soon.
If I have to chose, I would say the San Francisco Giants and Fontenot winning over the Twins, or vice versa.
Now that you have seen and read my thoughts on the former Cubs and the playoffs, what are yours? Which former Cub, if any, do you want to see win a ring? Why and why not?
Anno Catuli
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